September 6th, 2007 by gatsby Posted in Obituaries | Comments Off
Hundreds of people have gathered in Modena’s main square to pay their respects to the celebrated tenor Luciano Pavarotti. His body is lying in state in the cathedral in Modena, in northern Italy, until his funeral on Saturday.
The singer died at his home, aged 71, on Thursday after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006.
A stream of mourners applauded as the nine pall bearers carried Pavarotti’s body up the steps of the cathedral.
His wife and other family members grieved nearby.
Outpouring of grief
Local authorities are preparing for an outpouring of grief during the funeral on Saturday afternoon.
There are still no details from the family as to what kind of funeral they want, but Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has expressed his wish to attend and correspondents say it is starting to take the shape of a state funeral.
Across the city, the flags are flying at half mast and in the windows are signs which read “Adieu maestro”.
Giant television screens are being set up near the cathedral and satellites from all around the world have gathered in the square.
People are congregating In the main square in Modena
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“Thanks to Luciano Pavarotti, the name of Modena has gone around the world as the name of a city much bigger than it actually is,” mayor Giorgio Pighi told the Associated Press news agency.
Tributes pour in
Fellow tenors Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras have led tributes to Pavarotti.
“I always admired the God-given glory of his voice,” said Domingo, who performed with Pavarotti in Three Tenors concerts for more than 10 years.
He remembered “that unmistakable special timbre from the bottom up to the very top of the tenor range”.
“I also loved his wonderful sense of humour,” he said.
“On several occasions of our Three Tenors concerts, we had trouble remembering we were giving a concert before a paying audience, because we had so much fun ourselves.”
Jose Carreras, the third singer in the trio, called Pavarotti “one of the most important tenors of all time”.
Milan’s La Scala theatre – where Pavarotti appeared 140 times – held a minute’s silence for the star on Thursday. World renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti has died at his home in the northern Italian city of Modena.
The singer, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, was 71.
His charismatic performances – particularly alongside fellow tenors Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras – helped bring a new audience to opera.
Pavarotti had cancer surgery in July 2006 in New York, five months after his last performance. He had not made any public appearances since then.
He underwent five bouts of chemotherapy in the past year, and was admitted to hospital with a fever on 8 August. He was released two weeks later following diagnostic tests.
Fellow tenor Domingo said he had “always admired the God-given glory” of Pavarotti’s voice, while Carreras called him “one of the most important tenors of all time”.
The Vienna State Opera raised a black flag in mourning, while Modena said it would name its theatre after its famous son.
Manager Terri Robson said in a statement that the tenor died at 0500 local time (0400 BST) on Thursday.
“The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life,” she said.
“In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness.”
The funeral will be held at Modena Cathedral on Saturday.
One of the tenor’s doctors, Antonio Frassoldati, told Sky TG24 the singer had been “always totally conscious of the situation, he always sought to fight the disease… and he was very calm”.
Pavarotti enjoyed 40 years on the world stage and became one of the world’s biggest-selling artists.
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 We had trouble remembering we were giving a concert before a paying audience, because we had so much fun between ourselves 
Placido Domingo
A life in pictures
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His music reached far beyond the usual opera audience, particularly his signature tune Nessun Dorma, from Puccini’s Turandot, which became associated with the 1990 football World Cup.
His performances with Domingo and Jose Carerras at this time – in the Three Tenors concerts – were seen around the world.
“We’ve reached 1.5 billion people with opera,” Pavarotti told critics of the shows.
“If you want to use the word commercial, or something more derogatory, we don’t care. Use whatever you want.”
In a statement from Los Angeles, Domingo said he had fond memories of the Three Tenors shows.
“We had trouble remembering we were giving a concert before a paying audience, because we had so much fun between ourselves,” he said.
Nessun Dorma was part of Pavarotti’s final performance, at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Turin in February 2006.
Pavarotti was married to his first wife Adua, with whom he had three daughters, for 35 years until they split in 1996.
He then got together with his secretary Nicoletta Mantovani, who was 26 years old at the time. In 2003, they had been due to have twins, but only one survived, a daughter called Alice.
The couple married in a lavish, star-studded ceremony later that year.
From: http://news.bbc.co.uk
